ArticleBMC cancer2021
Icaritin promotes apoptosis and inhibits proliferation by down-regulating AFP gene expression in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Article in BMC cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Icaritin Sensitizes Hepatocellular Carcinoma to PD-L1 Therapy by NQO1-Dependent Ferroptosis Induction.Phytotherapy research : PTR · 2026Article
- Efficacy and safety analysis of TACE combined with lenvatinib and icaritin in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma with poor performance status.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Clinical efficacy and safety of icaritin in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a real-world study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Efficacy analysis of icaritin combined with transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma stratified by different child-pugh classes.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Current Therapeutic Strategies, Recent Advances and the Emerging Potential of Natural Products in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Scientifica · 2026Review
- Icaritin and lenvatinib treatment for unresectable localized progressive pancreatic cancer: a report of six cases.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- Biomimetic nanoparticles for targeted therapy of liver disease.RSC pharmaceutics · 2025Review
- Icariin mediates autophagy and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells induced by the β-catenin signaling pathway through lncRNA LOXL1-AS1.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Alpha fetoprotein (AFP)-producing gastric cancer: clinicopathological features and treatment strategies.Cell & bioscience · 2025Review
- Natural anti-cancer products: insights from herbal medicine.Chinese medicine · 2025Review
- Natural polyphenols as novel interventions for aging and age-related diseases: Exploring efficacy, mechanisms of action and implications for future research.Chinese herbal medicines · 2025Review
- Development of Small Interfering RNA Loaded Cationic Lipid Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Liver Cancer with Elevated α-Fetoprotein Expression.ACS bio & med chem Au · 2025Article
- Chinese herbal medicines: the modifier of hepatocellular carcinoma targeting Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- Icaritin inhibits osteoclast differentiation and reduces bone loss by targeting ESR1 to inhibit miR503/RANK pathway.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Enhancing survival outcomes in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a prospective cohort study on the effects of Huaier granules with targeted therapy plus immunotherapy.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Identification and validation of icaritin-associated prognostic genes in hepatocellular carcinoma through network pharmacology, bioinformatics analysis, and cellular experiments.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Traditional Chinese Medicine Monomers and Their Derivatives as a Promising Therapeutic Tool for Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Activation of Mitophagy.Drug design, development and therapy · 2025Review
- Lipid droplet formation induced by icaritin derivative IC2 promotes a combination strategy for cancer therapy.Chinese medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIcaritin, an active ingredient of the Chinese herb Epimedium, plays an anti-tumor role in liver cancer by inhibiting the proliferation of hepatocellular cells and promoting their apoptosis. In China, phase II and a large phase III clinical trial of icaritin reagent for the treatment of hepatocellular cancer is under-going, but the specific mechanism of icaritin action was unclear. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), an oncofetal protein, produced in the healthy fetal liver and yolk sac. Intracellular AFP promoted cellular proliferation and inhibited cellular apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study was aimed to investigate the effect of icaritin on HCC through p53/AFP pathway.
methodsReal-time RT PCR and western blot were used to detect p53 and AFP expression levels in HCC cells treated with icaritin. The mechanism of icaritin affecting p53 expression was verified by ubiquitination experiment, and the binding activity of icaritin on p53 in AFP promoter region was verified by luciferase experiment. EdU, MTT and flow cytometry were used to determine whether icaritin affected HCC cellular proliferation and apoptosis through p53/ AFP pathway. Expression levels of p53 and AFP in xenograft mouse model were determined by western blotting.
resultsOur results showed icaritin inhibited AFP expression at mRNA and protein level. AFP was also identified as the target gene of the p53 transcription factor. Icaritin abrogated murine double minute (Mdm) 2-mediated p53 ubiquitination degradation to improve the stability of p53. Up-regulated p53 protein levels then transcriptionally inhibited the AFP promoter. Icaritin-mediated decrease of AFP through Mdm2/p53 pathways inhibited HCC cellular proliferation and promoted HCC cellular apoptosis.
conclusionOur findings revealed the mechanism of icaritin in promoting apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation in liver cancer cells. The regulatory mechanism of icaritin in AFP protein down-regulation provides a theoretical and experimental basis for further research into new drugs for the treatment of liver cancer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.